CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- The video about a Chongqing girl in Hanfu giving away homemade tanghulu on the streets of Edinburgh has gone viral online recently. When asked what a tanghulu is, she was happy to answer their questions and offered them tanghulu for free. Some netizens commented that the girl was not only sharing traditional Chinese food with foreign friends; she was perceived to communicate traditional Chinese culture.

Given out in one hour

Tanghulu started a craze in Edinburgh

The Chongqing girl in the video is Wang Yibei, 25 years old, who has just finished her master's degree training program in early education in the United Kingdom. This is her second Spring Festival in the UK.

The New Year's Eve Gala hosted by the Chinese Consulate General in Edinburgh aroused an intense feeling of homesickness in her. Therefore, she decided to make tanghulu, a sweet traditional Chinese snack that fills with childhood memories of most Chinese people, and share this childhood delicacy with people around her.

Early in the morning of February 20, after tanghulu are made, Wang Yibei wore a pink and white Han-style dress and a hairpin and behaved with the grace of a great lady from ancient China. She carried large straw with dozens of tanghulu stuck in them on the streets of Edinburgh as if she had stepped out of a Chinese costume drama.

Wang Yibei didn't expect that nearly 30 tanghulu to be given out in one hour. Some passers-by were attracted by her tanghulu because they had never seen such kind of food, and some passers-by were interested in the unique Chinese traditional food.

A little girl impressed Wang Yibei deeply. “Tanghulu?” a little girl asked. Though her Chinese pronunciation was not standard, it was familiar to Wang Yibei. She learned from the little girl that she had learned tanghulu from Chinese TV plays and had been wanting to taste it for a long time. When given a tanghulu, the little girl stamped her feet excitedly and took a bite of tanghulu satisfactorily.

Tanghulu attracted more and more people's attention, and many adults came up to ask about and tried tanghulu. They were happy with the sweet taste of tanghulu. For a while, a craze for tanghulu started in Edinburgh.

“What makes me most happy is the smiling faces I met and their recognition of Chinese culture,” said Wang Yibei. Though she offered her homemade tanghulu for free, she obtained invaluable mental energy.

These passers-by felt happy with the taste of tanghulu, while Wang Yibei gained cultural confidence from foreigners’ recognition.

Receiving 280,000 likes

Netizens have great empathy with Wang Yibei

On the verge of graduation in October 2023, Wang Yibei opened an account called ‘好吃狗在爱丁堡 (Greedy Dog in Edinburgh)’ and started to share her daily cooking on the social media platform. Once the video about giving away tanghulu was released, it received a tremendous response from netizens and went viral on TikTok the next day. It has received more than 280,000 likes and nearly 3,000 comments so far.

Netizens agreed that Wang Yibei was not only sharing traditional Chinese food with foreign friends; she was communicating traditional Chinese culture. “Thank you for making excellent traditional Chinese culture flourish” “A beautiful girl promotes Chinese culture” “Chinese tanghulu” and “It’s touching”... We can see many positive comments on the video.

Wang Yibei was surprised and delighted by the favorable comments. She saw in the comments the deep sense of national pride in the hearts of Chinese people. Communicating Chinese culture is necessary and meaningful, said Wang Yibei.

In fact, this is not the first time Wang Yibei has had the idea of communicating Chinese culture. She started operating her social media account as a food blogger, and she had been studying all kinds of regional dishes in China and practicing cooking with her boyfriend. For the past four months, they have made no less than 40 kinds of dishes, such as Sichuan cuisine, Guangdong cuisine, and Northeast cuisine... Their cooking tutorials won them many followers.

"I didn't know how to make the food we made more influential,” said Wang Yibei. The video about her giving out tanghulu is inspiring to her. As she realizes the importance of food experience, she plans to apply for a food stall to promote Chinese food in Edinburgh. At the same time, she plans to introduce the intangible cultural heritage skills of her hometown (Chongqing) to the UK, to make Chongqing known and understood by more people.

At present, Wang Yibei’s social media account has more than 250,000 followers online. With the encouragement of her fans, Wang said she will present more high-quality content to make Chinese food continue to flourish overseas and let the world fall in love with Chinese cuisine.
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"Cultural transmission needs our joint efforts." Wang Yibei called on more Chinese international students to be the ambassadors of Chinese culture.  (Pictures provided by the interviewee)

(Translated by Yuki, Fathom Language Limited)